Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Looks like October 2

Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil that the second Irish referendum will take place on October 2. Propaganda, masquerading as misleading information has already begun or, rather, it never stopped.

The campaign was marked by a complex No campaign which raised some issues that did not form part of the Treaty.

Following that vote, the Government put in train an analysis of the reasons the document was voted down.

Arising from that research, pressure was put on the other EU members to accommodate Irish voters' concerns, in order to allow for a second vote with a better chance of success.

A two-day EU summit last month agreed to legally binding guarantees on the application of the Treaty in Ireland.

I'd say every single one of those statements is economical with the truth, especially that notion of legally binding guarantees. Even officially they do not become legally binding until the next treaty, whenever that might happen.

The BBC, not to be outdone in the economical with the truth stakes, also tells us about those guarantees, adding for good measure that the Lisbon Treaty was "aimed at streamlining EU institutions". I suppose abolition of parliamentary democracy does streamline institutions.

If the Irish vote no, presumably the colleagues will go through another exercise of having a dialogue with the people, possibly led by someone other than the Fluffy Commissar. Then they will have another IGC (or two or three, on past showing) and come up with another treaty. This time they might not let the Irish vote on it either.

If the Irish vote yes then it is up to President Klaus to hold his pen firmly above the paper and not sign the treaty. (There is also the question of what kind of legislation will be required in Germany.) If the Conservatives are serious about their opposition to the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty (stop sniggering at the back), they will follow our advice and ask President Klaus to hold that pen aloft, in order to give Britain a chance to vote in that referendum that will surely happen under a Conservative government.